Press the Re-set Button

The way capitalism does business has effectively been free-loading on the bounty that nature contributes to people, taking for granted the natural resources, describing it as "natural capital", well beyond what nature can replenish. We are part of nature, but our choices and behaviours have pushed the rest of the natural world to the brink of disaster. Hunger, disease, loss of livelihoods and rising levels of insecurity are the direct result of capitalism’s actions. Capitalism has always sacrificed the safety of people and the health of the planet to boost profits. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the surface the many underlying and inherent flaws within and capitalism and the world now has the chance to see very directly the importance of changing values, approaches and behaviours, and to better understand the vital connection between peoples and with nature. The pandemic has brought to light the extreme inequalities of wealth and income and worsen them all. Hopefully this will be a watershed moment. Humanity stands at a crossroads.

When we fail to act as responsible stewards of the environment, it is our future that we jeopardise. When we harm nature, we directly hurt ourselves. It clear that post-pandemic, going back to ‘business as usual’ would be a great mistake. Restoring damaged ecosystems and to shift to a more sustainable production methods is vital to humanity’s future. we need transformative social change to reset our fundamental relationship with our environment. Any further delay places people at increased peril. System change means a world-wide reorganisation across technological, economic and political elements. It means addressing the direct and most visible threats to biodiversity – such as land-use abuse, overfishing, pollution, and climate change by tackling the drivers of capitalist production and consumption. Coordinated local, national, regional, and global action is needed.

No more negotiating, no more working within the system, no more trying to be rational and appeasing those that are in power. You cannot go to bed knowing that your neighbours are hungry. We can no longer be bystanders, sitting on the fence. You cannot go to bed knowing that there’s someone somewhere that needs help. The Socialist Party has principles and we stick to them. It re-imagines the re-shaping of our society and proposes collectively organising social action to change our world. Once again we see society’s need for transition to a socialist steady-state economy. There is, after all, one renewable energy available and that is human labour power, both physical and mental. We have the capacity and ability to build a new World.